Question of Fact Whether Snow Removal Efforts Created or Exacerbated Icy Condition

The Second Department determined summary judgment should not have been granted in favor of the property owner in a slip and fall case.  The plaintiff slipped on ice on metal vault doors in the sidewalk in front of defendants’ restaurant.  The defendants failed to demonstrate that their snow removal efforts did not create or exacerbate the condition:

A property owner that elects to engage in snow removal activities must act with reasonable care so as to avoid creating a hazardous condition or exacerbating a natural hazard created by a storm … . Contrary to the defendants’ contention, they failed to demonstrate their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, as they failed to establish that the snow removal efforts that were undertaken prior to the accident neither created nor exacerbated the allegedly hazardous icy condition which caused the plaintiff to fall.. . Gwinn v Christina’s Polish Rest Inc, 2014 NY Slip Op 03485, 2nd Dept 5-14-14